Software components in a motor vehicle that are running on one and the same computer unit or on different computer units, for example, may be operated in different operating modes. The software components communicate with one another and exchange data in these different operating modes.
German Patent Application No. DE 10 2007 051 912 describes a method and a device for configuring a vehicle network; the vehicle network includes a multitude of control units, which exchange messages with one another via at least one bus system; the number of control units and/or the required messages are dependent upon the configuration of the motor vehicle. At least some control units are developed in such a way that their communication behaviors are variable, each message being assigned an unambiguous ID independently of the configuration; in addition, a communications matrix, which includes at least the IDs of the messages that are required for the communication, is set up as a function of the configuration. Moreover, the communication matrix indicates which control unit transmits which message and which control unit receives which message. During an initialization phase, the individual control units adapt their communications behavior in accordance with the transmit and receive requirement of the communications matrix.